Teen mom again... Sorry.. :roll:
Got my daughter to get excited about the cruise (yes, that took all of a day, thanks!)
Now, she has a friend that is interested. I got her dad's ok, her mom is interested in letting her go, but the step-dad is against her missing school for 5 days.
Both kids are honor roll students, never miss school, and are just great kids. What argument can we give the mom and step-dad that this will be an educational experience for her?
Besides the fact that she's getting out of a small town to see the world (her first time for that!)
Going to new countries (why should she be allowed to go with someone they don't know that well to see these countries)
and to be on a cruise ship to 'run wild' (which won't happen, because I'm a mean mom there, I will know where they are at all times).
Can you give us some help to present this argument?
8)
Thanks again! Then I hope to turn this over to my daughter and her friend, to get all the goods on teen cruising..

Ainsley

February 2nd, 2008 04:16 PM

i understand that you dont want your daughter nor her friend "running wild" but they do need a little freedom or they wont have fun. the teen club and activities and supervised but sometimes arent that great and they make alternate plans. and the ships are difficult to find just one person. it usually takes me an hour to find my mom and thats because i know where to look. haha. but presenting a case to the friends step dad go to the school and see if they could get extra credit if they wrote a paper or something to do with the vacation itself thats what we did for one of my friends. her dad finally said yes but then and the last minute he cancelled because she let her grades slip. Try that and see what happens. Other than that I dont know what to tell you. And when you do go on the cruise take the 2 way radios they are the worlds best way to communicate with your daughter =]

bwjm

February 2nd, 2008 04:33 PM

Oh no, I'm not worried about that. I realize there will be some moments that we'll miss up meeting each other. I trust my child enough that if she says she's in the lounge and will be back at 1am, she will. That isn't what I'm worried about at all, sorry if it came across that way! :oops:

I'm planning on my own adult time, too!

Just unsure of how to explain the reason of pulling their child out of school for 5 days to do this once in a lifetime trip - possibly!

Turbotw

February 2nd, 2008 07:42 PM

A big part of a cruise, especially on the major cruise lines, is social interaction. When your daughter and her friend are on the ship, they will interact with people of all ages from all sorts of countries. In the teen scene, there will mostly be Americans from all over the US, but there are also many Europeans and even some South American teens. With a broad, diverse group of teens like this, your daughter and her friend will learn about their cultures and their dialects, and become more humble themselves and all they have! Aside from the teen interaction, the cruise staff come from ALL over the world! On my cruises, I have had waiters from India, Turkey, Brazil, the Phillipines, and France! At dinner and during different events around the ship, your daughter and her friend will be interacting with the adults, whether they are ordering their dinner choice for the night or learning how to do a certain dance during the ship's pool parties. This interaction builds respect between the children and their superiors. By going on a cruise, they will be able to show more respect as each ethnicity and diversity shows their utmost respect in a slightly different way. They will be worldy educated!

If you decide to get off the ship and go on any excursion at port, they will learn an enormous amount of information about the specific island they are on. When we went to the beach at St. Maarten, our taxi driver was a native who told us all about the island and about the history of the events on the island! (We've been there twice and both times the taxi driver was very knowledgeable!!) Because they are both from a small town, this experience will be once in a lifetime!

Let me know if you have any specific questions or if you need some more strings to pull for the friend's father!!

Ainsley

February 2nd, 2008 10:00 PM

Well each of them are going to be widely educated in each of the ports that you get off at. The ports that I have been to I remember so much. & to be honest the traveling to other countries looks great on college applications. If the girls get to know enough about a particular culture it would be even better =]

bwjm

February 3rd, 2008 08:31 AM

Thanks

Thanks for putting those points out there! You helped me figure out wording to talk to the mom about, since I am not a traveler either. I do appreciate your help on this!
Thanks again :D

LauraJo08

February 3rd, 2008 12:48 PM

When I was away on different trips during the school year, my parents would make me write interviewing essays on the different places by talking with the locals. Basically I would set up some 10-20 questions and talk to random people (it was tough if they spoke a language i didn't know), and then when I got back I would write an historical essay on the place along with those views. If the parents are really concerned about this being educational, how about that? She could probably even get credit for it in a social studies or english class...

Kristina99

February 3rd, 2008 11:17 PM

Everyone has made some very good points.
I would just like to add that if your daughter and her friend take any foreign languages, cruises are a perfect time to be with people who dont speak English!! Chances are you are going to an island thats native language is French or Spanish, and even the little things like reading the signs is way cool. My language teachers love it when i bring back pictures and cultural items (like local candy or souveniers) from the places ive visited.
I hope this helps persuade her step-father!